I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.

Valletta · Apr 10, 2024

Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.

Uri Berliner, a veteran at the public radio institution, says the network lost its way when it started telling listeners how to think.

www.thefp.com

The coverage of Trump is certainly out of control.

chevyontheriver · Apr 10, 2024

Valletta said:
Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.

Uri Berliner, a veteran at the public radio institution, says the network lost its way when it started telling listeners how to think.

www.thefp.com

The coverage of Trump is certainly out of control.

I was once an avid listener to NPR. Less and less until now it's just not on my list. They became 'Some Things Considered' and then 'All Woke Things Considered' and I faded away. They WERE good about 40 years ago.

jacks · Apr 10, 2024

Very informative article. Thanks for posting. What he says about NPR could probably be said about many news outlets. Almost all of which have "Lost America's Trust.".

iluvatar5150 · Apr 10, 2024

lol, I was wondering how long it'd take for this article to get here.

I have my complaints about NPR, but if two of your prime examples are the lab leak theory and Hunter's laptop, then you're not being serious. Dude is being turned into a MAGA-ish contrarian.

Pommer · Apr 10, 2024

Valletta said:
Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.

Uri Berliner, a veteran at the public radio institution, says the network lost its way when it started telling listeners how to think.

www.thefp.com

The coverage of Trump is certainly out of control.

A lot of “that’s not how we NPRed in my day!” vibes.

Don’t fund NPR a dime from the public-trough.
That’ll fix ‘em, without the collar of public funding holding them back, they can be as openly lefty as the market will bear; there’s the rub, though, they might do very well in that regard and it’s better to give them a pittance to rein them in a bit.

chevyontheriver · Apr 11, 2024

Pommer said:
A lot of “that’s not how we NPRed in my day!” vibes.

Don’t fund NPR a dime from the public-trough.
That’ll fix ‘em, without the collar of public funding holding them back, they can be as openly lefty as the market will bear; there’s the rub, though, they might do very well in that regard and it’s better to give them a pittance to rein them in a bit.

Much of their funding is through memberships, so they are not totally dependent on congressional funding. Not sure the percentage but I suspect most of their money is from memberships, foundations, and corporate sponsors (essentially commercials). They are lefty to the extent that the money flows, but their support could wither if lefty money doesn’t replace lost conservative and moderate money.

A2SG · Apr 11, 2024

chevyontheriver said:
Much of their funding is through memberships, so they are not totally dependent on congressional funding. Not sure the percentage but I suspect most of their money is from memberships, foundations, and corporate sponsors (essentially commercials). They are lefty to the extent that the money flows, but their support could wither if lefty money doesn’t replace lost conservative and moderate money.

Seems to me, if conservatives don't like the tone of NPRs coverage, they should up their support until they surpass the "lefty money," and call the shots themselves.

-- A2SG, unless they feel Fox News is doing enough already....

wing2000 · Apr 11, 2024

Valletta said:
The coverage of Trump is certainly out of control.

How so? (and yes, I expect some examples from actual NPR content)

I mean, it's kind of hard to avoid Trump news these days. In one week, he has tried to delay his upcoming criminal trial 3 times. Or would you would prefer the news organizations skip that piece of information?

chevyontheriver · Apr 11, 2024

A2SG said:
Seems to me, if conservatives don't like the tone of NPRs coverage, they should up their support until they surpass the "lefty money," and call the shots themselves.

-- A2SG, unless they feel Fox News is doing enough already....

A hostile takeover?

durangodawood · Apr 11, 2024

Valletta said:
Like many unfortunate things, the rise of advocacy took off with Donald Trump. As in many newsrooms, his election in 2016 was greeted at NPR with a mixture of disbelief, anger, and despair. (Just to note, I eagerly voted against Trump twice but felt we were obliged to cover him fairly.) But what began as tough, straightforward coverage of a belligerent, truth-impaired president veered toward efforts to damage or topple Trump’s presidency.

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.

Uri Berliner, a veteran at the public radio institution, says the network lost its way when it started telling listeners how to think.

www.thefp.com

The coverage of Trump is certainly out of control.

You voted against Trump? I find that hard to believe. But if you say so.

chevyontheriver · Apr 11, 2024

durangodawood said:
You voted against Trump? I find that hard to believe. But if you say so.

Read for content. That was a quotation from the article.

The IbanezerScrooge · Apr 11, 2024

durangodawood said:
You voted against Trump? I find that hard to believe. But if you say so.

Pretty sure Valletta didn't work at NPR for 25 years either.

durangodawood · Apr 11, 2024

chevyontheriver said:
Read for content. That was a quotation from the article.

Ah. We should indicate when we're quoting things with quotes or the quote function. Its presented as if its his own commentary on the article.

chevyontheriver · Apr 11, 2024

durangodawood said:
Ah. We should indicate when we're quoting things with quotes or the quote function. Its presented as if its his own commentary on the article.

You comment on things without reading the associated articles? Had you read it before commenting you might have known, maybe, that it was a quite from the article.

durangodawood · Apr 11, 2024

chevyontheriver said:
You comment on things without reading the associated articles? Had you read it before commenting you might have known, maybe, that it was a quite from the article.

Sometimes I do respond directly to someones comment before looking into anything else when they present a particularly standout fact.

Paulos23 · Apr 11, 2024

iluvatar5150 said:
lol, I was wondering how long it'd take for this article to get here.

I have my complaints about NPR, but if two of your prime examples are the lab leak theory and Hunter's laptop, then you're not being serious. Dude is being turned into a MAGA-ish contrarian.

I agree with this.

I also wonder if the audience shift is due to the audience getting pushed away from NPR from other news sources. I have not noticed a 'woke' programming from it, it has mostly been the same programming I have seen since the 2000's. But if you think it is 'woke' now, I think there has been a shift in your viewpoints.

rambot · Apr 11, 2024

I would LOVE to hear from the OP which news media outlets are trustworthy and what makes them so?

Also, generally curious from everyone, what makes a news outlet worthy of your consideration?

durangodawood · Apr 11, 2024

NPR has gotten a bit "messagy". But its still quite trustworthy. In other words, less prone to flat out lying like so many other outlets Americans rely on.

iluvatar5150 · Apr 11, 2024

Paulos23 said:
I agree with this.

I also wonder if the audience shift is due to the audience getting pushed away from NPR from other news sources. I have not noticed a 'woke' programming from it, it has mostly been the same programming I have seen since the 2000's. But if you think it is 'woke' now, I think there has been a shift in your viewpoints.

I don't listen as much as I used to because I don't have a commute anymore, but when I do listen, it feels like it's skewed younger and more simplistic. That could just be me getting older and expecting more, but I don't think so. I've read others commenting that the skew towards youth has brought with it more of the DEI-related content that the yutes care about. That strikes me as plausible.

But either way, lab leak and Hunter's laptop have nothing to do with wokeness. They were (and are) dodgy stories with little substance and a whole lot of nonsensical right-wing hysteria. There's basically no good way to report on them that won't make things worse.

chevyontheriver · Apr 11, 2024

iluvatar5150 said:
There's basically no good way to report on them that won't make things worse.

Worse for Biden? There should be a way to report on things that is informative. Hiding stuff does seem to be what makes things worse.

I’ve Been at NPR for 25 Years. Here’s How We Lost America’s Trust.

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